Big Girls Don't Cry

by Taylor Lee

  She sauntered closer and slowly unbuttoned her skirt, then slid her hands under the clingy fabric. In exaggerated movements matching the silky tones of Joel Cocker’s husky croon, she slid her skirt over her curvy hips, then stopped when it reached the top of her panties.

  Jake swallowed hard then motioned wordlessly to her to remove it. She closed her eyes, her dark lashes fanned against her cheeks. Inch by inch, she eased it down over the silk of her panties letting it slide to the floor.

  Jake’s chest tightened, choking off his breath. The skimpy “meant to entice” black bra and panties looked even more risqué in concert with the wicked garter cinching her glorious thigh.

  He murmured, “Not sure my heart can take it, darlin’, but that bra needs to go.”

  She flushed a rosy pink and gnawed on her lower lip. Her smile was tenuous, but she tossed her head and slowly flicked the clasp on the front of the lacy structure. Just as it opened, she turned her back to him and let the bra slide to the floor.

  He growled. “Look at me.”

  In what seemed like a lifetime, she turned to face him. Without instruction, she lifted her beautiful breasts toward him, a luscious offering. Her soft pink nipples hardened to firm buds.

  His command was more a rasp than a request.

  “Touch them, Lexie. The way I did last night. Make your nipples hard for me.”

  She started and her eyes widened. Her flush deepened. She closed her eyes for a spilt second as she grasped the sensitive nubs between her fingers and thumb.

  Jake didn’t know whose groan was more intense, his or hers.

  Not relying on his voice, he pointed soundlessly to her panties. Once again, she turned away from him, but this time she bent over at her waist, a challenging move that had him gripping the arms of the chair struggling to control his breath.

  In that provocative position, Lexie eased the fabric over her curvy ass, giving him a full glimpse of soft round cheeks and the enticing crevice splitting them. Again without his instruction, she turned to face him. She slid the panties down her legs and daintily stepped out of them. When she stood upright, he gasped at the sight of her bare mound with a narrow landing strip of soft golden hair pointing the way to the treasure trove below. His breath nearly strangled him.

  “Jesus God, Lexie. You…you are bare.”

  She lifted her chin.

  “An occupational necessity, Jake. You’ve seen the costumes we wear at Senora Travieste. “Besides,” she added with a shy smile, “I…I like it like this.”

  She held his gaze, then tossed the black lace panties to him. Jake caught them in one hand. With a low grunt, he held the damp lace to his face, breathing in deep. Inhaling the sweet spicy smell of her musk threatened his control. Lost in the heady fragrance, he looked up and choked at the sight.

  Lexie stood before him, a pale lovely statue, naked except for the black and red garter cinching her thigh and her five inch high platform sandals. Her hair hung loose, a cascade of gold down her back. Gnawing on her bottom lip, her expression was a mix of anxious excitement. She tossed her head, a brazen move, but her tremulous quaver gave away her nervousness.

  “Am… I…okay?”

  Jake’s cock throbbed so painfully, he wasn’t sure he could stand. Tears stung his eyes. He stood back from her, frozen, too overwhelmed to move, to touch her.

  He managed to murmur. “Lexie, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. If I died at this moment, there wouldn’t be an angel in heaven that compares to you.”

  She swallowed hard. With a slight quaver she lifted her chin and met his gaze.

  “Jake, can I…can I undress you?”

  Relief flooded him at her nervous attempt to turn the tables. His excitement flared.

  “Yeah, darlin’, you sure as hell can.”

  He toed off his boots and tossed his socks across the room. He stepped up next to her and spread his arms wide, an open invitation. He grinned at her.

  “Have at it, sugar.”

  She reached down and pulled his t-shirt out of his waistband, slowly scrabbling it up and over his chest. He ducked down so that she could pull it over his head. Like he had done, she held the fabric to her nose and breathed deep. Her face flushed at the smell. She stared at his chest and ran her fingers over the taut muscles. Jake watched her eyes widen and knew why he practiced martial arts twenty five hours a week.

  Burying her fingers in the curly hair on his chest, she looked up at him with a dazed expression and whispered, “You are beautiful, Jake. The most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen.”

  Biting on her lip, the nervous gesture he’d come to crave, she slipped the buckle prong out of the holes. With a quick swipe, she yanked the belt out of the loops. Swinging the belt in her hand, she looked up at him with a teasing smile.

  “Maybe I should hang on to this--in case I need it…later.”

  The saucy remark almost did him in. His dick jerked to attention. His voice was soft with the trace of a threat. “I like that idea, sugar. It might come in handy, depending on how well behaved you are.”

  He smiled inwardly, thrilled at the flash of excitement in her eyes.

  Her slender fingers tussled with the clasp fastening his jeans. He always went commando, so knew this would be a quick next step. Frowning, she tried to pull his jeans down over his hips but his burgeoning erection was in the way. She flushed bright red and grimaced.

  With an exasperated sigh, she pointed to the obstruction.

  “I …I don’t think I can get these off over ‘that’.”

  Jake gave her a cocky grin.

  “Well, sugar, ‘that’ is one unruly guy who’s eager to meet you. I can’t vouch for him. Can’t promise he’ll behave. But we may as well let him out. There’s no keeping him down now.”

  He slid his jeans over his slim hips and stepped out of them. When he stood up, his erection jutted out, pressing up against his stomach past his navel.

  Lexis eyes widened. She stepped back, pressing her fingers against her lips.

  “Oh.... Oh…my.”

  Jake laughed, a deep infectious sound.

  He pulled her up close to him, cuddling her soft body against him. He leaned down and nibbled on her ear lobe, smiling when her body trembled wildly in response.

  He whispered in her ear.

  “Lexie, I want to love you, to make love to you. Yes, darlin’?”

  She whimpered softly and then nodded.

  “Yes. Yes, please, Jake.”

  ~~~

  The next several hours vaulted her into a new region of time and space. Lexie knew she could never turn back, never be the damaged woman who’d only known men who were vicious, angry predators. Instead, she willingly, eagerly let Jake lead her from that hateful place to a hallowed place, shattering the ugly memories with a bomb blast of sensations.

  She knew that Jake would be a masterful lover, but nothing prepared her for the way he catapulted her into an erotic wonderland. His knowing hands, fingers, and tongue aroused sensuous hideaways that she didn’t know she had. Within minutes of scooping her up in his arms, he’d marched into the bedroom, stripped off the duvet, and laid her on the stark white sheets. He gazed at her the way a marauding warlord would look at a virginal sacrifice. The open lust in his eyes excited her and she found herself opening to him in a way that should have shocked her, but didn’t.

  It was a space devoid of rational thought chased away by rioting sensations. Over and over, he whispered to her. “Don’t think, Lexie. Just feel.”

  And she did. At first she was horrified when he insisted that he see, touch, taste, and smell her most intimate places. But he breached every defense she mounted. Not with force, but with glorious sensations. Who knew that the back of her knees were an erogenous zone, or that when he licked the pulse on her throat her breasts would swell. And her breasts! Good God, to think that she’d had these extraordinary sex organs all her life and had never known that his skilled tongue and teeth and vigorous suckling could bri
ng her to an orgasm the likes of which she’d never imagined.

  And then there were the orgasms. Last night, when he’d thrown her down on the counter, Jake had given her the first ever orgasm she’d ever had. But then he’d pulled back. Not tonight. He seemed determined that she would orgasm, not once or twice, but over and over. She demurred, begged him to let her breathe, protesting that it wasn’t possible to come again so soon. But he put a lie to her words. Again and again in the most impossible ways, he milked waves of excruciating pleasure from every part of her body.

  His wicked whispers were as exciting as his touch. In his dark sexy voice, he described intimate parts of her body. She’d never dreamed his dirty, provocative words would be erotic, but they sent clamoring sensations bombarding through her. He whispered the outrageous things he would do to her, with toys and props she’d never imagined. Rather than frightening her, his shocking suggestions titillated her and drove her higher and higher up a pathway of fiery sensations.

  She whimpered and moaned. At times, she wailed, stunned that the panting gasps and shrieks of agonized need came from her. At each sound, he urged her higher, not letting her stop until she exploded in a tsunami of pleasure.

  His body was a stunning male masterpiece. The iron hard flex of his muscles, his impossibly huge erection should have terrified her. At first, it did. But somehow his skillful fingers and tongue drew copious amount of liquid from her intimate folds. When he finally entered her, she thought she might die from the pleasure. He was gentle, encouraging, easing the entry, but she refused to compromise. Fiercely hungry for his huge aggressive body, she begged him to fill her, not to hold back. When he let go and thrust impossibly deep inside her with a harsh animal roar, she knew she would spend a lifetime exploring this erotic playground with this man she loved.

  Many hours later, he pushed the hair back from her face, then washed her face as though she was a child, planting kisses everywhere he touched. He washed the sweat from between her breasts, then carefully cleaned their combined juices from her succulent folds. His gentle ministrations to her sensitized body elicited renewed moans of pleasure. All the while, he crooned loving words of praise for her body, her spirit and the way she let him love her. She fell into a deep exhausted sleep, nestled in the safety of his strong arms, knowing that nothing and no one could ever take this away from her.

  Chapter 31

  “That’s her! The sister! Quick! It’s the dead guy’s sister! Get the blond!”

  As she climbed out of her Camaro, a stampede of fanatical news people swarmed her, determined to get their quote, no matter who they ran down in the process. A pack of rabid braying hyenas smelling carrion at the side of the road, they shoved microphones and cameras in her face. Within seconds, Brady, Clint, and six other members of the team barreled through the crowd forming a phalanx of burley men around her. Their fierce glares stopped even the most zealous of the newsmen.

  They knew entering the club would be a challenge. They’d already agreed this was her last night at the club. They’d hoped she could keep her identity secret one more night. No such luck. Some enterprising newsperson had discovered who she was and the word that they had a new “victim” to exploit created a frenzy.

  Inside the club, the bouncers joined the protective squad and summarily ejected any customers with the rabid stench of a news person.

  Once inside, Lexie focused on her mission for the night. Her goal was to learn what Sergio knew. Jake was convinced the club owner wasn’t a principle in the drug operation, but needed to know his role and what he knew about the mastermind of the operation. Sergio’s message on Lexie’s cell phone gave her an excuse to talk with him. But they’d agreed she was not to see him alone.

  Manual, one of the bouncer’s, who had an obvious crush on her, caught up with her after she’d served a table and was heading back to the bar.

  “Boss wants to see you, sweet cheeks.”

  She frowned.

  “I can’t, Manuel. I have four full tables. If I leave now, there’ll be a riot.”

  The heavy set Hispanic man sneered. “Let ‘em try. I’ve been wantin’ to kick some serious ass after that scene in the parking lot. You better get in there, sweet stuff. The boss ain’t the nicest guy under the best of circumstances. And, honey, these last couple of days he’s been anything but.”

  Lexie hesitated, then decided to take him in her confidence. She’d promised Jake that she wouldn’t go anywhere by herself, but neither Brady nor Clint were in sight.

  “I can’t, Manuel. I… I have to have someone with me.”

  “Will I do?”

  Lexie breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Clint’s firm voice.

  Manuel looked him up and down. He must have seen something in the mild mannered man in the sports coat that made him pull back and settle for throwing him a hostile glare.

  “What are you? Protection for sweet cheeks?” When Clint merely nodded, Manuel grunted, “How many of you are there? “

  Clint’s quiet voice was laced with steel. “Enough.”

  Manuel mumbled under breath. “You better hope so, dude. There’s a pack of trouble coming little sunshine’s way tonight, if what I hear is true. And it starts right here with the boss.”

  He flung open the door.

  “Here she is, Boss. But she ain’t alone…”

  Sergio glanced up, his swarthy face twisting with anger. He looked past her, glowering at Clint.

  “Who the hell are you, her guard dog?”

  Clint smiled slightly, his calm demeanor a striking contrast to the furious man glaring at him.

  “Yes, I am here to protect Sarah Jane from the mad dogs surrounding your establishment. In the event you have not looked outside, your waitresses are passing through a veritable gauntlet to enter the club.”

  Sergio eyed him, a deep red flush marking his dark skin.

  “Cut the bullshit, asshole.”

  He whirled on Lexie.

  “Do you think I don’t know who you are? That I haven’t known since you flaunted that sexy ass of yours up on the bar? To get my attention? To make me hire you?”

  His voice rose to shrill heights. “You think I don’t know who Jake Gardner is?” His voice dropped to a sneer.

  “You ain’t fooling nobody, sweetheart. That little charade you’re playin’? Pretending to be on the outs with that big shot hero guy? Hell, if you two are fighting, I’d hate to see you when you’re making up! I know whose woman you are. Everyone in this whole goddamn town knows whose woman you are.”

  Lexie saw the spit forming angry bubbles in the corner of his mouth. His eyes were red rimmed, the pouches under them swollen. He looked like he’d been crying. The half empty bottle of tequila on the desk spoke to the empties piled in the waste paper basket next to the desk. Six shot glasses were lined up like soldiers on parade waiting for their next order.

  Bolstered by Clint’s strong presence, Lexie tried to reduce the tension, to reach the angry man.

  “If you knew who I was, Sergio, why did you play along?”

  “Because, pretty lady, I was doing the same damn thing you are and what that fuckin’ brother of yours was doing. Trying to find out how much you knew about what’s goin’ on.”

  She kept her voice calm when her chest tightened painfully at his reference to Anthony.

  “What is going on, Sergio. Where do you fit in this illegal drug running operation?”

  When he didn’t answer, she took a chance. “Bella told me you’re not involved, just taking a payoff to stay out of the way.”

  Her question hit the bull’s eye. At the mention of Bella’s name, Sergio’s face crumpled, as though the bones that should have held it together went on hiatus.

  He ran his hands through his tangled black hair, further adding to his drunken, disheveled appearance.

  With shaking hands, he filled a shot glass full of tequila, sloshing at least as much over the papers on his desk. Tossing it back, the look he threw her was ripe with pa
in. His voice was an agonized whisper.

  “He killed her. Tortured her. Cut her up. My Bella. My beautiful Bella.”

  His voice broke, caught in a harsh sob.

  Lexie swallowed hard. At Clint’s imperceptible nod, she pressed. Vaulted

  “I know that, Sergio. Bella was my friend. I know you loved her and that she loved you.”

  She leaned forward in her chair and appealed to him.

  “You’re right, Sergio. We’re working to find my brother’s killer and now Bella’s. Help us, Sergio. Don’t let them get away with it. We both know Walter Cochran wasn’t smart enough to mastermind this operation. You know that, Sergio. If Walt killed Anthony and Bella, he did it because someone ordered him to.”

  She waited until he looked up at her, sure that she had his attention.

  “Who are they, Sergio? Who attacked me last night in the alley? And who ordered Walt to kill Bella?”

  Sergio shook his head as if he hadn’t heard her. He quaffed another glass of tequila and peered at her through bleary eyes.

  He mumbled, “I warned her. I tried to tell her who those guys are. What they’re capable of. Fuck! Why do you think I wouldn’t work with them? I told her not to get uppity. Those guys don’t like uppity broads. She wouldn’t listen. I told we could make more on the sidelines then we ever could in the center. And it would be safe.” He groaned. “She would have been safe. But she wouldn’t listen. She was too smart, too greedy for her own good.”